The Newcastle Eagles lost the second of their four BBL titles when they were deservedly beaten at home by the Plymouth Raiders 74-65 in the Trophy final.

The Raiders' coach, Gary Stronach, had said an hour before the game at the Metro Radio Arena that his team was ready. He was proved right as his six-man rotation did an excellent job of moving the ball offensively. His team dominated the first three quarters through the strength of Carlton Aaron, their 6ft 9in American forward, who hit 25 points and took 12 rebounds.

He was helped by Gaylon Moore's 17 points and 12 rebounds and the passing of DeAntoine Beasley, who scored only eight points but was the spark behind the whole team's performance.

Plymouth seized the early initiative in a first quarter played at breakneck pace. Aaron got to work early, as did Eagles' player-coach Fab Flournoy, who scored his side's first seven points.

Unlike Aaron, Flournoy did not score again until the final quarter. Newcastle were forced to pick up whatever they could off the break and through the know-how of the former England forward Tony Dorsey, who scored 20 of the most difficult points of his career in Britain.

Plymouth took a 10-point lead in the third quarter through hard offensive rebounding and were 58-45 ahead when Gavin Love splashed a three-pointer on the buzzer to end the quarter.

Newcastle's 11-4 start to the fourth, fuelled by seven points from Olu Babalola, gave the home crowd something to cheer but Moore and Aaron, fed by three astonishing passes from Beasley, steadied the ship for Plymouth.

"This was our best performance of the season," said Stronach. "We've just had a great week in preparation. We made some adjustments because we knew they'd come after Carlton and set the defensive tone. So we talked about the rotation of the ball through the team.

"It justifies the club stepping up into the BBL - definitely. We've had two seasons when we've finished ninth - now we're tied at fourth and we've got our first piece of silverware."